


"neat"

by whatcaniwriteinthis



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Architecture Student Annabeth, Art Student Piper, Crushes, F/F, Getting Together, M/M, basically my writing style, frank is also there, jercy is background, lyrical prose mixed with cuss words and memes, piper is me with a crush, piper's hella fucking gay okay, piper/jason are my brotp ngl, written real fucking fast alright
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-08
Updated: 2017-02-08
Packaged: 2018-09-22 22:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9627326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatcaniwriteinthis/pseuds/whatcaniwriteinthis
Summary: Piper sees beauty in everything- especially the beautiful blonde women with heavy textbooks and a gaze made of steel.





	

**Author's Note:**

> see if you can spot the reference ;))

Piper spends a lot of time admiring beauty. She’s an art student after all. It’s her job to see beauty in all sorts of things. From the man crying in the arrivals terminal as he clutches a sobbing woman in uniform, to soft light filtering through leaves onto faces, to the splatters of paint on her classmates’ faces as they consider their own work, faces contorted in painful looking expressions, to the woman who comes ever weekend to the café Piper works at, her long blonde hair tied loosely, sharp grey eyes distracted by the thick book in her hands.

Piper slides her drink across the counter, calling “medium latte for Annabeth.” as she does so. Annabeth glances up and smiles at Piper.

“Thank you.” she says in a quiet voice as she takes her drink. She finds a seat and starts to pour over her book, pulling out a highlighter.

This is the extent of their conversations. Piper occasionally sees her on campus too, architecture books in hand, hair in a messy bun as she marches from class to class. Piper might stare a little creepily whenever she sees her.

Piper releases a sigh and leans across the counter. Jason Grace, her _incredibly_ helpful best friend and also her manager, throws a rag at her head.

“If you have time to relax you have time to clean!” he reminds her. Piper sticks out her tongue in response, flashing a small piercing as she does so. She gets to work nonetheless, sweeping sugar grains and straw wrappers into her hand.

When she’s done, Jason gestures at the tables on the other side of the counter, from the permanently malfunctioning espresso machine. Piper swings herself over the counter, instead of taking the extra half minute to walk around.

“Oh, no, don’t do that.” Jason deadpans. Rolling his eyes, he heads into the kitchen, presumably to check up on Frank Zhang, their baker. He’s long since given up on stopping Piper from practicing parkour in the shop. Just as long as she doesn’t kick anyone, they’re good.

 _Besides_. Piper thinks with a smirk. _Jason likes my parkour group._ Her parkour group being Leo (who she knows Jason doesn’t like), Reyna, and Percy. Piper can’t tell who it is between the last two, because Jason only sees them together. She hopes for his sake it’s Percy. Reyna’s a little too gay for him.

Whatever.

Piper glances at Annabeth bent over her textbook- a few strands of hair having escaped her bun, a smudge of highlighter on her cheekbone- and feels her heart accelerate like the ridiculous sports cars her dad likes to drive.

She doesn’t have much room to make fun of Jason’s crushes.

Half an hour later, Percy Jackson enters, sweaty but excited. Piper’s already corrected _three_ different customers who were all too used to Starbuck’s sizing system, so she is also in a good mood- relatively good, because she works in retail after all. There was throw up.

“Hey Percy!” she greets him cheerfully, causing Annabeth to look up too. Piper pretends not to notice.

“Hey Pipes.” Percy greets her back, leaning against the counter with a smirk. His sweatpants rest low on his hips, and he’s wearing a tank top and a baseball cap. He looks like an honest-to-goodness fuckboi.

Piper loves it.

“Is that how we’re playing this?” she asks, picking up a cup and writing his name on it. She doodles a little purse with a face under it as she talks. “I’m gonna call Jason; he’s the only one who knows how to make your gross leaf water.”

Percy grins and ruffles his hair self-consciously, but Piper misses this as she turns away to call Jason.

Frank has cookie dough in his hair and Jason has chocolate along his jawline. Piper’s still giggling when she leaves the kitchen.

Only, her laughter dies quickly, when she sees Annabeth and Percy talking. Annabeth’s laughing at something Percy said, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, eyes crinkling at the corners. Piper’s been making architecture puns for actual _weeks_ and she still hasn’t made Annabeth laugh this much.

Then Percy turns to see Jason and his whole damn face lights up, as Jason turns bright red.

“Chai?” Jason asks, his voice cracking midway through the word. Percy nods, looking like someone just slapped him across the face with a fish: surprised, confused and a little amused.

Piper glances at Annabeth, just to make sure someone else is seeing this too. Annabeth smiles at Pieper, a little disbelieving. Piper takes the few steps towards her and they watch the scene in front of them unfold.

They watch Jason finish Percy’s drink. They watch him slide it gently across the counter to Percy. They watch Percy take a sip and beam at Jason, who ducks his head and blushes. They watch Percy reach out and gently wipe away the chocolate on Jason’s face. And they watch Jason reach over and kiss Percy’s cheek.

Piper resists the urge to squeal.

When he recovers, Percy glances over to Annabeth and says, “You’re next, Wise Girl!” with a smirk that is decidedly less self-conscious than before.

“Screw you, Seaweed Brain!” Annabeth replies. Despite the silly nickname, she looks genuinely pissed.

“You’re next for what?” Piper stars to ask, but she doesn’t finish the sentence because Annabeth is leaning over the counter and kissing her square on the lips and there is _definitely_ beauty in being kissed by your long-standing crush.

Annabeth pulls away and smiles a little nervously at Piper.

“You wanna get coffee some time?” Piper blurts and then promptly slaps herself in the face because she works in a _coffee shop_ \- what the _fuck_ McLean?

Annabeth laughs. “What about a museum date?” she suggests and then bites her lip.

It takes an embarrassingly long amount of time for Piper to reply

“Uh- yeah! That sounds neat!” Piper scrambles for a napkin and a marker so she can scribble her number down, but mentally she’s kicking herself. _‘Neat’?_ What is she- a podcast character?

“It’s a date.” Annabeth agrees, fingers curling around the napkin. She leaves with Percy leaving behind a dumbstruck Jason (who got Percy’s number) and a giggling Piper.

Frank wanders out a minute later and asks Jason if he found someone quote-unquote “doing it” in the bathroom again.

Piper grins, snapping out of her daze to tease Jason. “No but we’ll find _him_ there soon!”

**Author's Note:**

> just in case it wasn't clear: annabeth likes piper too, but she's got a resting bitch face and a strong handle on her emotions and therefore isn't obvious. jason and percy are both very obvious but also very oblivious.


End file.
